Social support plays a monumental role in creating, maintaining, and promoting health. In fact, we know from the literature that it is a protective factor against several physical and psychological health problems. Read on for more on why we need it, what it is and how to get it.Continue Reading
Ambivalence can make us feel torn between opposing thoughts or feelings. In the context of therapy, this is SO normal, but the experience can be preoccupying and exhausting!Continue Reading
“People sometimes worry that if we offer comfort when children are upset, we are saying I accept your behaviour. What we are really saying is I accept your emotions.” - J. MilburnContinue Reading
Our capacity to connect with others is key to our psychological health, and the way that we express our emotions is key to our capacity to form close relationships. Social signaling - non-verbal signs we convey to others - has a strong impact when it comes to forming and maintaining our relationships.Continue Reading
As parents we don’t need to be perfect to be enough - there is a lot of value in being a “good enough” mom. Kids don’t need perfect parents. In fact, there is some evidence that helicoptering over our children makes it harder for them to learn valuable lessons about independence and making mistakes. Kids...Continue Reading
You often hear people talking about feeling fat. But when you stop to think about it, fat isn’t actually a feeling. Joy, anger, sadness, and fear are all examples of emotions. So, why is it that so many of us use “fat” to describe a feeling and understand exactly what others mean when they tell...Continue Reading
There is nothing wrong with striving for excellence or having expectations, but what happens when you find yourself taking things personally, feeling depleted, or thinking you are a failure because you received feedback from someone? If your perfectionism is causing you to act or react in ways that negatively impact your relationships, there are strategies...Continue Reading
The relationship between athletes and their bodies can be a complicated one. Dr. Jodie Richardson's Body Image in Sport is an engaging and comprehensive look into this complex and sometimes difficult relationship. Jodie examines some of the facts about body dissatisfaction in athletes - causes and specific issues - and outlines an education plan based...Continue Reading
Part 1 of this post about making big choices covered some key basics on the how-to’s of decision-making. Here in Part 2, Dr. Maryann Joseph invites us to come along for a deeper dive down into more process-level help for getting closer to a decision when we feel really stuck. Continue Reading
Our kids practice setting boundaries with us from a young age, to assert themselves through stages of growing independence, and also to learn what limits will be respected based on how we react. These transition times can be scary for parents, as we struggle with feelings of inadequacy, loss or rejection. But when we handle...Continue Reading
